


Kids Will Be Kids

by IcicleWieldingManiac



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Kindergarten & Pre-school, Friendship, Kindergarten AU, No Spoilers, copious amounts of glue-eating, little kids taking little kid business very seriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 18:22:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11018979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcicleWieldingManiac/pseuds/IcicleWieldingManiac
Summary: Kaede's first day of kindergarten couldn't be more of a mess! The classroom is full of some of the liveliest, most unique other kids she thinks she's ever met, and she's excited for them all to be friends - the only catch is all her classmates are very different, and they seem intent upon refusing to get along. Even if the first day doesn't go as well as she would have liked, Kaede is determined to become friends with every single kid in the class before the year's end. Will she be able to unite all her classmates in time for the summer?





	Kids Will Be Kids

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!! This is my first shot at a long, multichaptered fic for v3! I've been enjoying this game very much, and while talking with some friends on discord we thought it would be a great idea to have an au with all the v3 characters in kindergarten, and since there are so many possibilities for crazy antics to occur I just couldn't resist. I don't really have much to say other than that I hope it's to all of your liking!! As always, feedback and comments are always so, so appreciated, and I really hope you enjoy it!!

Kaede could hardly contain the mixture of nervousness and excitement welling up in her little body as she glanced around the circle. Her heart felt like it might beat right out of her chest any moment, but she simply couldn’t help but gape wide-eyed around at all the faces surrounding her. These were to be her new classmates, and – should everything work out the way she wished – her new friends. After all, the one thing that had always thrilled her the most about starting kindergarten was all the new kids she would meet, and she was determined to make friends with every single one of them sitting in the circle around her if it was the last thing she did.

“Alright,” started the man sitting amongst all the kindergarteners in the circle, the smile upon his face warm and friendly-feeling. “Well, I am more than excited to have you all here today! Starting today I will be your sensei, and we’re going to learn tons of new things and have lots of fun together. So, to kick off this year, why don’t we just go around in the circle and introduce ourselves? When we get to you, just say your name, and one thing about yourself that you’d like the class to know. Why don’t we start to my right? Gokuhara-kun, would you like to begin?”

Seated next to Sensei was a large boy, probably the largest kid in class. His hair was dark green and very long and messy, and his giant round glasses made his eyes look even larger as he glanced wide-eyed around the room. It was almost sort of funny, seeing such a big kid look so nervous, and eventually his anxious gaze found Sensei once more. “U-Uh…”

“Ah, that’s okay, we can start to my left instead,” Sensei suggested, his friendly smile still in place. “That will give you some time to get ready, right Gokuhara-kun? Then, how about you, Amami-kun?”

The boy at Sensei’s other side nodded, his sleepy eyes and light smile giving him a very calm feeling. “Hi, my name is Amami Rantarou,” he spoke without hesitation, waving at everyone and showcasing his wrist clad in way too many silly bands for Kaede to count. “One thing about me. Um, well I’m pretty much a grownup already. I even have my ears pierced.”

“What, really?” cried out the blue-haired girl next to him. “I’m not allowed to get my ears pierced yet! They’re not real right?”

“Are too,” Amami proclaimed solemnly, brushing his fluffy green air back and tapping a finger against his earlobe, which, sure enough, was already adorned with an earring. “You can touch it if you want.”

“Really?” the blue-haired girl gasped, reaching towards Amami’s ear, only for Sensei to clear his throat, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“I’m happy everybody is so excited to get along,” he expressed, still as smiley as ever, “but I’m afraid if we stop to talk for too long after each person goes we won’t have time for recess later on! Why don’t you go now, Shirogane-san?”

“Oh, okay!” the blue-haired girl said, pushing up her glasses. “My name is Shirogane Tsumugi! I like playing dress up and pretending.”

The next one in the circle was a girl with dark hair pulled into two twin tails on either side of her head. “I’m Harukawa Maki,” she spoke quietly. The other students waited for more, but she simply stared out at them unblinkingly.

“Is there anything you want to say about yourself, Harukawa-san?” Sensei asked.

“Not really,” the girl responded.

As Sensei began an attempt to persuade the girl to continue, Kaede couldn’t help but find herself lost in her own head. What would she say once they finally reached _her?_ Not including Harukawa, there were only eight students, and then it would be her turn. She guessed it was probably good that they didn’t start with Gokuhara, since she would have had much less time to think, but the issue still persisted. After all, this was the first impression she would be giving to her fellow classmates, and her mom always taught her that first impressions were the most important. What if she gave a bad first impression?

“Angie here!” called out another girl, snapping Kaede out of her thoughts. “One thing about Angie, hmm? Well, Angie loves God very much! God is worth sacrificing anything for!”

“Oh wow,” Sensei said, his eyebrows raising. “Well, I’m sure God appreciates that very much, Yonaga-san, but there won’t be any need for sacrifices here.”

After a brief pause, the next girl in line spoke up, a tall looking girl who was very calm. “My name is Toujou Kirumi. I like to clean.”

“You like…to clean?” Sensei inquired.

“I hate cleaning,” said the next girl, who was very small in comparison. “It’s not fun, and I get too tired.”

“Would you like to introduce yourself too then?” Sensei suggested.

“Oh, I’m Yumeno Himiko,” the girl replied. “I like magic.”

“Whoa, that’s so cool, Yumeno-san!” cried the girl next to her, with brown hair and a mole on her chin. “Maybe at recess you can show Tenko a magic trick!”

“I don’t know magic tricks,” Yumeno insisted. “I only do real magic.”

As the activity devolved into conversation once more, Kaede once again found herself wondering how she should introduce herself, and once again found herself drawing a blank. Why was it so difficult to think of something? She wasn’t usually so shy, but she wanted it to be perfect so badly. Balling her little hands into fists, she tried to hold back the tears she felt stinging her eyes, when she realized the boy to her right was doing the very same.

The boy had dark hair and wore a hat, which was pulled down in such a way that it hid a good bit of his face. He was shaking ever so slightly, and his knees were drawn up to his chest. Curious, Kaede reached out a hand and poked him in the arm.

The boy started, turning quickly and looking at her with wide eyes. “Ahh!”

“Ahh!” Kaede called out as well, taken off guard by the boy’s reaction. Her gaze flickered to Sensei for a moment, but he seemed too busy trying to calm down the other kids to notice their little yelps.

“W-Why did you poke me?” the boy questioned as if she had committed a grave offense of some sort.

“I’m sorry, you looked scared,” Kaede tried to explain.

“So why did you poke me?” the boy asked again.

“Oh, um, I dunno,” Kaede replied. “I wanted to talk to you.”

The boy’s eyebrows scrunched together, making him look even more concerned. “But why?”

“Um, maybe ‘cause I’m a little scared too,” Kaede laughed a bit. “To talk to everyone else. Is that why you’re scared?”

The boy averted his gaze. “Maybe a little…”

“Well, I don’t think you should be scared.”

“B-But, you just said you were too—”

“You seem like I’d wanna be friends with you, so you shouldn’t worry,” Kaede insisted, offering a nice, big smile. The boy’s eyes widened, but the two were cut off by Sensei’s voice before he had a chance to respond.

“Okay, that’s enough everyone!” he announced. “We still have half the circle to go! Now, who’s next?”

“I am!” called out the next boy in line, with a wave of purple hair atop his head. “I’m Momota Kaito, and I love outer space! One day I’m gonna travel to space, and I’ll be famous there!”

“Famous in space? But what about aliens?” called out another boy who had yet to be called on, also with purple hair, but of a darker shade. “What if the aliens don’t want you there? You could get in a lot of trouble with them.”

“Then I’ll fight the aliens!” Momota countered, seemingly unfazed. “I’ll be famous in space no matter what!”

“But God says we shouldn’t fight!” Angie spoke up. “If we find aliens we should make friends with them!”

“But if they’re dangerous,” started a small boy, sitting between Gokuhara-kun and the boy with the dark purple hair. He had an undeniably cool air about him, and he placed a lollipop back into his mouth, appearing as though he did not plan to finish the idea. _You gotta do what you gotta do,_ was the vibe he seemed to be giving off.

“When did God say that anyway?” posed the boy with the dark purple hair from the cool boy’s side. “I don’t think I believe you.”

“God said so just now! He spoke to Angie!” the girl insisted, though she didn’t seem particularly upset or angry.

“Alright, well we have to move onto the next person,” Sensei continued. “Shinguuji-kun, right?”

The next boy in line nodded. He seemed somewhat tall, and it appeared that he was trying to grow his dark hair out long, though at this point it only reached a bit past his chin. He also wore a surgical mask over the bottom half of his face like some people do when they get sick, and Kaede wondered if maybe he wasn’t feeling well. He murmured something, though it was too quiet for her to hear.

“I’m sorry, but could you try to speak up a bit Shinguuji-kun?” Sensei suggested. “I’m sure everyone would love to hear what you have to say.”

The boy spoke a bit louder this time, though it was still difficult to decipher just what it was he was trying to say. The room was quiet for a moment, and Kaede shared a puzzled look with the boy next to her.

“Shinguuji-kun,” started Sensei, “could you—”

“He said he likes t’spend time with his sister!” called out the girl sitting next to Shinguuji. She had long blonde hair and was decked out in all pink. “Least that’s what I think he said.”

“Oh, well thank you for the help,” Sensei responded. “Would you like to introduce yourself next?”

Kaede saw the boy next to her tense a bit. After all, after this blonde girl it would be his turn, and then after that it was Kaede herself. She froze when she realized that she still hadn’t thought of something good to say, but the other girl’s loud voice gave her little room to think.

“I’m Iruma Miu, and I’m kinda a genius,” the girl announced. “I can make all sorts a’things. That’s cool, right?”

“Very cool,” Sensei laughed, nodding. “Now then, Saihara-kun?”

“Ahh…” Saihara gasped, looking up. His gaze momentarily flickered to Kaede, and so she gave him a smile once more. “W-Well, I—”

“Wait, Sensei!” Iruma spoke up again. “You forgot Kiibo!”

“I…huh?” Sensei inquired. “Kiibo?”

“Yeah, you skipped him,” Iruma continued, gesturing to the small gap of space between her and Saihara. “Can’t he introduce himself too?”

“Kiibo?” inquired Shirogane.

“Gonta doesn’t see anybody there,” said the large boy Sensei had called Gokuhara.

“Could it be that he’s mastered invisibility?” murmured the cool boy next to him from around his lollipop.

“Well, if he’s just invisible, then I’m sure I can find him, since I’m pretty much a grownup,” Amami offered. “Grownups know how to find everything, even if it’s invisible.”

“No, no, Tenko things Yumeno-san should look instead!” Tenko objected. “Yumeno can do magic to make everyone able to see Kiibo.”

“I can go invisible too, actually,” the boy with the dark purple hair spoke up. “And when I go invisible, nobody can ever find me. Not even grownups or people who do magic.”

“That can’t be true!” Tenko insisted. “Yumeno-san is the most powerful wizard in the world! Right Yumeno-san?”

“I am,” Yumeno responded, “but I already used so much power before school. I need more power to find an invisible person.”

“Huh? Then take some of Tenko’s power!”

“Maybe if we are careful and look everywhere we could find him,” Toujou suggested calmly. “Maybe Kiibo isn’t invisible, just hiding.”

“Hmm, I think he’s probably invisible,” Momota chipped in. “One time I was fighting monsters in the woods, and an invisible guy came and helped me beat them.”

“That didn’t happen!”

“Did too!”

“Everyone calm down!” Sensei called out. “I know how exciting this all is, but if we want— wait, where did Ouma-kun go?”

Amami cocked his head to the side. “Ouma?”

“Who’s Ouma?”

“Wah, he’s gone!” cried out Gonta, and sure enough the boy with the dark purple hair had disappeared.

“So what he said about being able to turn invisible was true?” the cool boy next to Gonta murmured. “Heh, if this keeps going on then I’ll have to do something too.”

“Huh? Can Hoshi-kun turn invisible too?” Gonta gasped.

“Hoshi?” questioned Shirogane.

But Sensei was already on his feet. “Ouma-kun!” he called out. “Please, come out! If you don’t then you won’t be able to participate at recess!”

 

 

 

Kaede suppressed a sigh as she took a sip of her juice. She’d been so worried about giving a bad first impression, and yet in the end she wasn’t even able to give a first impression at all – and it was all thanks to that attention-grabbing Ouma boy, too. Still, she knew that she wasn’t really angry at him. In fact, she wasn’t really angry at all. Instead the stinging sensation of tears was prickling at her eyes once more, and she sniffled in an effort to keep them at bay.

“Are you…okay?”

She looked over, and to her surprise the boy with the hat from earlier was standing at her side. “Oh, uh…” She scrubbed vigorously at her eyes in an attempt to rid them of tears. “I’m fine!”

“You look kinda sad,” the boy murmured, looking down at the brightly patterned carpet on the floor.

“I’m not sad,” Kaede insisted, smiling up at him again. “I was just kinda lonely, since it’s lunchtime and I don’t have any friends to talk to. Lunchtime is more fun with friends, I think.”

“U-Uh, well this is my seat,” Saihara stammered a bit nervously as he gestured to the spot next to Kaede at the table. “I forgot my lunch in my backpack, but Sensei said that’s where I sit. So is it okay if I…”

“Oh! Of course!” Kaede insisted, and she helped pull the chair out so the boy could sit down. “I’m really happy you’ll be sitting here, actually!”

“Really?” Saihara inquired.

“Yeah,” Kaede replied. “I told you before, you seem like someone I wanna be friends with.”

Saihara averted his gaze once more. “Oh, y-yeah.

“Actually, I was hoping I would get to be friends with everybody,” Kaede mused, glancing out at the rest of the class. “But I didn’t even get to introduce myself to them.”

“Oh,” Saihara mumbled. “Um, well at recess you can go and introduce yourself, maybe?”

“Ah, that’s a great idea Saihara-kun!” Kaede beamed. “Oh, but I guess I should start with you! My name is Akamatsu Kaede, and I like playing piano!”

“Akamatsu…san,” Saihara murmured, then nodded, offering a small smile.

“Yup!” Kaede chimed. “So once recess starts we can go introduce ourselves to everyone together!”

“Together?” Saihara gasped.

“Well you didn’t get to introduce yourself to anybody either,” Kaede offered.

“Oh, I guess,” Saihara said with a nod, but then his gaze trailed off to the window. “It’s rainy outside though. Do you think we’ll get recess if it doesn’t stop raining?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Kaede said, turning to gaze outside as well. The sky was awfully gray, and the water cascaded down the glass of the window in heavy ripples as rain pelted it from above. “Hmm, it’s raining pretty hard. Do you think Sensei will make us have recess inside instead?”

“Ah, maybe,” Saihara conceded.

“Perfect then, Kaede said as she turned back to face Saihara, grinning with determination. “If everybody is stuck inside, that means they can’t get away!

As it turned out, they did end up having recess indoors, and so Kaede set about her new goal of introducing herself to all of her classmates with her new sidekick in tow.

“So you want to make friends with everybody, huh?” Saihara inquired.

“Mm-hm!” Kaede hummed, nodding. “I do! The most exciting thing about starting kindergarten is all the friends we get to meet!”

“You think so?” Saihara asked. “I was kinda excited to learn. I want to know all kinds of things.”

“Ooh, really?” Kaede asked, raising her eyebrows. “You must be smart, Saihara-kun.”

“Not really,” Saihara insisted bashfully. “I just like, um, books. I want to get better at reading them so I can read more.”

“Ooh, that’s so cool!” Kaede beamed. “So your name is Saihara, and you like reading books, right?”

“Oh, y-yeah,” Saihara nodded. “I guess that’s what I should say to everyone, right?”

“Sounds good to me!” Kaede offered, then turned to face the task before them. “Now, let’s get started!”

They scanned the room, but all the kids seemed preoccupied in one way or another. Angie was scribbling away with some crayons at one of the tables, with Yumeno seeming rather interested. Tenko was hovering by as well, seeming somewhat conflicted, while Shirogane and Iruma were trying to wrestle the building blocks and dress-up bins out of the shelves.

“Shinguuji-kun!” Sensei’s voice then bounced about the room, cutting above all the noise, and in an instant he dashed across the room to where the odd boy was sitting alone. Sensei took something from the boy’s hands, seeming shocked. “Were…were you just eating glue?”

Pulling the surgical mask up so it was covering his nose and mouth once more, the boy shook his head.

“Shinguuji-kun, I saw you eating the glue,” Sensei persisted. “It’s okay if you did, but I don’t want you to lie to me about it.

“Ouma-kun was doing it,” Shinguuji replied in a quiet voice. “It looked interesting, so I wanted to try…”

Sensei stood up, then approached the boy with the dark purple hair, whom it took all the way through half of lunch time to find after his disappearance. “Ouma-kun,” Sensei called out.

Ouma, who was climbing on top of one of the tables with a blanket tied around his neck like a cape, suddenly looked up. “Sensei?”

“Get off the table, you’ll fall and hurt yourself,” Sensei commanded, grabbing the small boy by the arm and coaxing him down. “I heard you were eating glue earlier. Is that true?”

“Nuh-uh,” Ouma insisted, shaking his head vigorously. “Eating glue is gross. I wouldn’t do that.”

“Huh? But Gonta saw Ouma-kun eating glue just at the end of lunchtime,” Gonta mentioned from the side.

“Gonta, how could you lie to Sensei like that?” Ouma gasped. “I would never eat glue. Only weirdos do that.”

“Gokuhara’s not the liar,” replied the cool kid, the one Gonta called Hoshi. Slowly, he took the lollipop from his mouth. He then looked to Sensei. “Ouma’s lying, not Gokuhara. He’s not a liar.”

“Listen, it’s not a big deal, I just don’t want anybody eating glue again,” Sensei tried to explain. “But if you’re going to keep lying Ouma-kun, I might have to put you in time out. You already made everyone look for you earlier today.”

“This is false in-prison-ment!” Ouma cried, and he then jabbed a finger a Gonta. “Gonta is the liar here! If you don’t tell him the truth Gonta, I’m gonna get you!”

“You’re gonna get Gonta?” Gonta gasped, and Kaede couldn’t help but think it was somewhat comical for such a large boy to be so frightened by someone so tiny from the place where she and Saihara watched.

“I won’t let it happen,” Hoshi stated, calm and cool as ever, as he twirled around the stick of his lollipop.

“But won’t you get in trouble too, Hoshi-kun?”

Hoshi simply shrugged, then looked at Gonta with half-lidded eyes. “I’ve been in timeout plenty of times. One more won’t change a thing.”

“Wow, what a mess,” Kaede sighed, turning back to Saihara. “I guess we got some pretty bad kids in our class, huh?”

“You still want to make friends with all of them?” Saihara inquired.

Kaede nodded in determination. “Yeah, I gotta,” she proclaimed. “That’s what I said I was gonna do, so I gotta do it! Maybe I just…won’t start with them.”

“Um, well Iruma-san is playing alone,” Saihara offered, pointing to where the blonde girl was digging through a bin of LEGOs. “She seems kinda scary though too.”

“Oh, but she looks a little upset,” Kaede noticed. “Come on, let’s go talk to Iruma-san. Just follow my lead.”

And so the two marched up to the girl, who looked up once they drew near. “You two? Hey, you’re the one who tried to steal Kiibo’s turn!”

“I-I’m sorry!” Saihara stammered. “I didn’t mean to!”

“He really didn’t,” Kaede said, backing him up. “I’m Akamatsu Kaede, and this is Saihara. Are you okay Iruma-san?”

“Huh? ‘Course I’m okay!” Iruma snapped, though the slight quiver in her lip was difficult to hide, as was the slight redness in her eyes. “Why would you think I’m not, Bakamatsu?”

Kaede gasped, taken aback by the sudden insult, but she tried her best not to get upset. “W-Well, what are you doing then?”

“Building a body for Kiibo,” she spat, turning back to her LEGOs. He’s always invisible, and I’m the only one who can see him, but I’m sick of people skipping over him and stuff like Sensei did. I’m sick of people thinking he’s not real.”

Iruma turned her head away a bit, and Kaede thought she heard her sniffle a bit. “Oh,” she said, then sat down next to Iruma. “Well, I believe you, Iruma-san!”

“Huh?” Iruma gasped, turning to look at her again. “What are you doing?”

“I was thinking I could help you build a body for Kiibo,” Kaede offered, smiling that bright smile she did for Saihara before.

Iruma’s eyes widened, and a blush crept across her cheeks. “W-Well, you’ll probably keep messing up, since you’re not super smart like me,” she stammered, averting her gaze, “but it’s hard to build a whole body alone, I guess.”

Kaede felt some sort of light, soaring feeling in her chest, and she couldn’t help herself from smiling her biggest smile yet. “That’s great!” she cheered. “Saihara-kun, do you want to help us build a body for Kiibo too?

“Oh, u-um, am I allowed?” Saihara stuttered, seeming incredibly anxious.

“Of course you are!” Kaede said. “Oh, but what do you think Iruma-san?”

“Fine, whatever, Iruma grumbled turning her head away a bit. “You guys aren’t smart like me, but at least it’ll go faster if you help. Just make sure you do what I tell you, okay?”

Even when Iruma snapped at her or told her she was messing up, Kaede couldn’t wipe the wide grin from her face. She looked out over the rest of the class as well. It may be true that her first day of kindergarten didn’t go quite as planned, and that the classroom was filled with some of the rowdiest kids she’d ever met. In fact, some of them weren’t the kind of kids she’d imagined making friends with at all, and it was clear that it was hard for them all to get along, with such a variety of vibrant personalities. But all hope of making friends with every single kid in her class was not lost just yet, and she would do whatever it took to unite her class and get to know each and every one of them – even if it took the whole entire year.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that's it for now! This is really just a brief intro into the fic as a whole, so the future chapters are where the crazy childhood adventures are really going to kick off. I know not all the characters got to be in the spotlight for long in this chapter, but different chapters will focus on different students in the future, so hopefully you'll enjoy what's in store for whoever might be your favorite. Once again, comments and feedback mean the world to me, but since this fic is spoiler-free I'd appreciate it if you keep spoilers out of the comment section for the most part so unspoiled readers don't see something they wish they didn't. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed yourself!!!


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